Lawmakers push EPA for more time on water rule

2014-04-04T17:52:27Z2014-04-04T17:52:32Z

By HOPE YENAssociated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Industry groups and more than a
dozen GOP senators are urging the Obama administration to reconsider
plans to regulate many of the nation's streams and wetlands, saying the
proposed rule hurts economic activity and oversteps legal bounds.

In a letter Thursday, the senators faulted the
Environmental Protection Agency for announcing a proposed rule last week
before the government's peer-reviewed scientific assessment was fully
complete. They are calling on the government to withdraw the rule or
give the public six months to review it, rather than the three months
being provided.

The senators' move puts them among several groups -
from farmers and land developers to Western governors worried about
drought management - in expressing concern about a long-running and
heavily litigated environmental issue involving the Clean Water Act that
has invoked economic interests, states' rights and presidential power.

The letter was led by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and signed by 14 other GOP senators.

"We believe that this proposal will negatively
impact economic growth by adding an additional layer of red tape to
countless activities that are already sufficiently regulated by state
and local governments," the letter to EPA chief Gina McCarthy said.

Alisha Johnson, the EPA's deputy associate
administrator for external affairs and environmental education, said the
EPA's draft scientific assessment, used to inform the proposed rule,
was being reviewed and wouldn't be complete until the end of this year
or early next year. The EPA rule will not be finalized until the
scientific assessment is fully complete, and will take into account
public comments, she said.

At issue is the federal Clean Water Act, which
gives the EPA authority to regulate "U.S. waters." Two Supreme Court
decisions in 2001 and 2006 limited regulators' reach but left unclear
the scope of authority over small waterways that might flow
intermittently. Landowners and developers say the government has gone
too far in regulating isolated ponds or marshes with no direct
connection to navigable waterways.

Some 36 states, including Pennsylvania, have legal
limitations that prevent the EPA from regulating waters not covered by
the Clean Water Act, according to the Environmental Law Institute.

The rule proposal by the EPA and the Army Corps of
Engineers seeks to clarify which waters or wetlands would trigger
federal requirements, such as permitting and state water quality
certification. Seasonal and rain-dependent streams - and wetlands near
rivers and streams - would be covered; others would be considered on a
case-by-case basis to determine if they play a significant role in the
quality of downstream waters.

In a statement released this week, the American
Farm Bureau Federation criticized the rule as giving the federal
government authority over creeks and even ditches that are miles away
from "navigable waters."

According to the EPA, exemptions already granted
for farming activities would continue and 53 agricultural conservation
practices would be added to the list. But Bob Stallman, the Farm
Bureau's president, said the proposed rule will create more uncertainty
because it subjects farmers to potential regulation if water pools on
their private land after a rainfall.

"Clean Water Act jurisdiction over farmlands
amounts to nothing less than federal veto power over a farmer's ability
to farm," he said, citing essential farming activities such as pest and
weed control.

The proposed regulation, broadly supported by
environmental groups, has become a charged political issue in a midterm
election year when President Barack Obama has pledged to use his
executive power as needed to push through environmental and climate
change protections.

"The EPA's proposed rule is a terrifying power
grab," said Toomey, who appeared at an event in Carlisle, Pa., with more
than two dozen farmers to criticize the regulation. "The EPA's new
position seems to be that a puddle from your garden hose will ultimately
end up in a navigable waterway, so the agency should have dominion over
that water, too."

Still, the issue is not divided strictly along partisan lines.

The proposed rule has drawn the concern of
Democratic Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, chairman of the Western
Governors Association. He has warned federal officials that the rule
change could impinge upon state authority in water management and that
states should be consulted in the EPA decision-making. In recent years,
Hickenlooper has urged the Obama administration to speed approval of
water projects because of a looming water supply gap in Colorado.

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